NZ quake: Geonet: “We don’t know what we are dealing with”

Despite there being no increase in activity, Volcanologist Agnes Mazot from GNS Science told Fairfax Media that they will continue to keep watch for activity around New Zealand's most active sites.

"I was looking at this just five minutes ago and it has been alright. I don't see anything different from before the earthquake," she said.

The Central Plateau's Mt Ngauruhoe is one of the volcanoes being closely monitored following the quake. Photo: SNPA

Meanwhile, seismologists are baffled by Monday morning's string of earthquakes, saying they may have involved more than one fault.

Geonet duty seismologist Dr Anna Kaiser said they still had a lot to learn about the nature of the severe 7.5 magnitude earthquake that rocked many parts of the country, and the aftershocks that have since ensued.

Credit: AP

"We don't know what we are dealing with right now but it may be ... it involves potentially more than one fault ... we need to figure out what was going on before and after the 7.5 magnitude quake," she told NZME.

"We're working very hard ... this is looking quite complexThe epicentre was possibly just south of the Hope fault, but it did look like "something else was going on".

The latest update from Geonet said the reason for a multitude of aftershocks following the 7.5 tremor could be due to the earthquake being two separate jolts.

"The M7.5 looks like TWO separate earthquakes, which is why we are seeing aftershocks in two locations. More info to come," a post on the GeoNet Twitter account said.